Cytochemical and morphometric analysis of autophagy in energy depleted rat hepatocytes

The energy dependence of lysosomal enzyme acquisition by autophagosomes was studied in isolated rat hepatocytes by ultrastructural analysis for acid phosphatase activity. Reduction of the intracellular ATP content by addition of atractyloside or fructose decreased the flux through the autophagic proteolytic pathway to a similar extent (40-50%). Unexpectedly, in the presence of atractyloside the volume density of autophagosomes was reduced by 65%, whereas in the presence of fructose this reduction was only 20%. The volume density of lysosomes was not significantly affected by either of the two compounds. It is concluded that partial ATP depletion by fructose not only inhibits sequestration of cytoplasmic material in autophagosomes, but also affects the fusion between autophagosomes and lysosomes. Since fructose, in contrast to atractyloside, does not affect the cytosolic phosphate potential, it is proposed that autophagic sequestration is more sensitive to changes in the cytosolic phosphate potential whereas the fusion between autophagosomes and lysosomes is more responsive to changes in the ATP concentration.